A drawing program may include various “guides” that assist a user in positioning drawing objects, such as shapes, lines, images, text, and the like, on a drawing canvas. These guides may comprise non-printing elements, such as horizontal and vertical lines, alignment indicators, spacing indicators, and the like, that may be used to visually align and space objects on the drawing canvas. The guides utilized by drawing programs may include drawing guides and “smart guides.”
Drawing guides may be stationary guides that run the length/width of the drawing canvas and provide a visual reference for the alignment of shapes and other drawing objects. Drawing guides may be strategically placed on the drawing canvas by a user or a template designer to achieve a specific design goal. There may be multiple drawing guides, both vertical and horizontal. When drawing objects are placed or repositioned on the drawing canvas containing drawing guides, the objects may “snap” an edge to these guides when dragged within a threshold of a few pixels of the guide. Smart guides, in contrast, may only appear when two or more drawing objects are in alignment with each other or when equidistant spacing between objects is achieved. In addition, the drawing object being placed or moved may snap to a position of alignment or equidistant spacing as indicated by the smart guide. Typically, a drawing application may only show smart guides on the drawing canvas between the various drawing objects and independent of any drawing guides that may exist on the drawing canvas.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.